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Dump House Intel Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes – Courage Campaign

March 8, 2017

Normally I’d say there are valid reasons to be skeptical of how productive a petition like this one from the Courage Campaign could be. But Rep. Devin Nunes is a key quack in Donald Trump’s gaggle of defenders, and perhaps making some noise about it could be productive, not to mention a highly enjoyable way to spend two minutes, so let’s do it – RR.

Nothing is more urgent than getting to the bottom of Russia’s [alleged] attempts to pervert our democracy and making sure it never happens again.

But Rep. Devin Nunes — the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, whose job it is to investigate President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia — is one of Trump’s most committed allies. That’s a clear conflict of interest.

Nunes is practically at the administration’s beck and call. Just recently, Rep. Nunes said he would spend precious Intelligence Committee resources investigating Trump’s baseless claim that President Obama tapped Trump’s phone. And Nunes recently called a New York Times reporter to refute a well-researched story about the Trump Administration’s ties to Russia — all because Trump asked him to!(1)

Rep. Nunes can’t and won’t give us the investigation we all deserve. He is on Team Trump, when he should be fighting for the truth. That’s why we’re asking Nunes to step down from his role as chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

It’s clearer now than ever — the public can’t trust the House Intelligence Committee to lead a complete and impartial investigation into Russian interference in November’s election if its chair asks, “How high?” every time Trump tells him to jump.

Rep. Nunes is a trusted member of Trump’s inner circle — since being picked to serve on Trump’s presidential transition team after the election he has used his pulpit as chair of the House Intelligence Committee to consistently deflect and downplay questions about the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia.(2, 3)

For instance, Nunes expressed skepticism of any links between Russia and the Trump campaign before the committee had even done much actual investigation! He called concerns that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn may have violated the law when he spoke with Russian ambassadors “ridiculous.”(4)

Nunes also said that he wouldn’t subpoena Trump’s tax returns despite the possibility that they could expose more connections to the Russian government or Russian businesses.(5) This doesn’t sound like someone who wants to follow the truth wherever it might lead.

Devin Nunes can’t find what he’s not looking for. We need someone committed to finding the whole truth for the American people — and Rep. Nunes has shown us through action and words that he isn’t that person.

The story gets even more sordid. Trump recently called his friend Devin Nunes and asked him to refute a story in the New York Times about the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. Not only did Nunes actually make the call, he says that he sees nothing wrong with his actions.(6)

But to us, it’s simple: the person in charge of investigating Trump shouldn’t be on Team Trump at the same time. It’s an obvious conflict of interest that undermines the public’s faith in the committee’s ability to do an impartial investigation.

Now Nunes has agreed to investigate Trump’s claims, which were made without a shred of plausible evidence, that President Obama ordered Trump’s phones to be wiretapped. Nunes is shamelessly politicizing his role by falsely lending credibility to Trump’s paranoid fantasies and distracting from the investigation into the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia.(7)

Dozens of Courage Campaign members in Nunes’ district recently gathered at his district office, demanding that he step down from his post as Intelligence Committee chair. If thousands more people like you continue to demand the truth and raise your voices in opposition to Nunes’ continued leadership of the House Intelligence Committee, we’ll get the impartial and complete investigation we all deserve.